News & Observer staff and wire reports

Stanford had seven points on the board before its offense even touched the ball.

But once quarterback Josh Nunes and the Cardinal took the field, the first-team offense wasted no time, embarking on seven scoring drives, none of which lasted longer than 3:05. Stanford rolled over, around and through Duke, 50-13.

“Bottom line is we didn’t get it done,” Cutcliffe said, adding that his team may have been complacent coming off its win against FIU. “There are no excuses.”

Time will tell whether Lance Thomas's 2009 jewelry purchase results in any repercussions for Duke. Credit: CHUCK LIDDY-cliddy@newsobserver.com

Lance Thomas’s $97,800 jewelry purchase in 2009, now the subject of a lawsuit, came while the Duke team had dispersed for its holiday break.

After the Blue Devils’ Dec. 19 victory over Gonzaga in Madison Square Garden, the team had a few days off before the Dec. 29 game in Durham against Long Beach State. Thomas purchased five pieces of diamond jewelry with a $30,000 down payment at Rafaello & Company, a Manhattan jeweler, on Dec. 21, according to an Associated Press report. Thomas lived just outside the city in Scotch Plains, N.J.

Now, Rafaello & Co. is suing Thomas for the remaining $67,800, which he had agreed to pay within 15 days of his purchase. The lawsuit was filed in Texas’s Travis County in January and had not previously been publically disclosed.

Mike Bowers, the Dallas-based attorney for Rafaello & Co., said his client waited more than two years to file the suit because the jeweler had been trying to collect its money.

“There were efforts taken by my client to secure payment,” Bowers said. “Obviously the lawsuit was an option that unfortunately came to pass when arrangements could not be made to secure payment.”

Conner Vernon and Josh Snead hope to celebrate more touchdowns this week at Stanford. Credit: CHRIS SEWARD-cseward@newsobserver.com

Duke at Stanford

When: 10:30 PM

Where: Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto, Calif.

Line: Stanford by 15

TV/radio: Pac-12 network website, if you're lucky (details here)/WDNC-620 AM, WKIX-102.9 FM

What they're saying nationally about Duke: 

Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel: "It's not too late to jump on the Duke bowl bandwagon. The Blue Devils pummeled a respectable FIU team, 46-26, in their opener."

ESPN's Heather Dinich: "Considering the way Stanford played in its 20-17 win against San Jose State, Duke’s biggest obstacle might be the cross-country travel and 10:30 p.m. ET kick. The Blue Devils are confident after their 46-26 win against FIU last week."

What they're saying nationally about Stanford:

Mandel (after listing Stanford as one of three schools atop the panic meter): How much do the Cardinal miss not just Andrew Luck, but All-America offensive linemen Jonathan Martin and David DeCastro? In the span of a year they went from beating the Spartans 56-3 to a largely even four-quarter fight. One of the hallmarks of Luck's teams was their ridiculous success on third down (57.5 percent in 2010, 52.6 last season). On Friday night, Stanford converted 2-of-13 third downs.

CBS Sport's Jon Breech: "Missing a clutch kick or two can turn a kicker into a head case, but don't tell that to Stanford's Jordan Williamson. In Friday's 20-17 win over San Jose State, Williamson went 2 for 2 on field-goal attempts, including a career-long 46-yarder just before halftime. The sophomore seems to have put his 1 for 4 performance in last season's 41-38 Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State behind him."

Duke head coach David Cutcliffe got his wish: Time Warner Cable will broadcast the Blue Devils' game in the Triangle area. Credit: CHRIS SEWARD-cseward@newsobserver.com

7 p.m. update

Thanks to an 11th-hour agreement with Time Warner Cable, the Duke vs. Stanford game will be available on TV in the Triangle area, and viewers can watch Duke try to win its first road game against a ranked opponent in 41 years Saturday night at 10:30 p.m.

(Side note: In addition to Duke battling its own road history, Pac-12 teams have won 75 percent of their games against East Coast opponents in the past five years. Other fun facts in my story today about road game woes.)

Duke CB Tim Burton and the rest of the defense will have to tackle better if they want to hang with Stanford. Credit: CHRIS SEWARD-cseward@newsobserver.com

DURHAM—Imagine being David Cutcliffe or defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. It's the preseason, and you've got a unit that is down three projected starters in LB Kelby Brown, S Jordon Byas and NG Jamal Bruce. CB Jared Boyd, LB Britton Grier and DE Jordan DeWalt-Ondijo are also unavailable to due injuries. So, what do you do?

Not much new from last week on the injury front. DE Jonathan Woodruff, who was listed as doubtful last week but did play, is now probable. S Anthony Young-Wiseman, who also took the field last time, is up from questionable to probable. And Kenny Anunike, who registered three tackles and a half sack, is off the list after being probable last week.

The out list is still long, with 12 scholarship players out, if you count the ineligible S Jeremy Cash, whose transfer waiver from Ohio State was denied for this season. So, Duke will head into its Stanford game with the same crew that beat FIU 46-26:

Brandon Connette celebrates his first-quarter touchdown in Saturday's 46-26 win over FIU. Credit: CHIRS SEWARD-cseward@newsobserver.com

I wrote a story for today's paper about the parallels Duke saw between last year's Stanford game and last week's Florida International game. Basically, the games started out the same—tight, competitve affairs early—but then Duke made a big play, and that's when the outcomes went in opposite directions. Give it a read using the link above, or click here, if you prefer.

Brandon Connette cited the stat about how quickly the Stanford game (the Cardinal scored 20 points in a span of 22 snaps). He has a compelling source of insight for this year's matchup, too, in his little brother, Simon, who is a safety at San Jose State, the team Stanford played last week. It took a fourth-quarter to pull out a 20-17 win against a team it beat 57-3 in 2011. 

Conner Vernon with one of his 10 catches against FIU. Credit: CHRIS SEWARD-cseward@newsobserver.com

Duke WR Conner Vernon was one of eight players to receive ACC Player of the Week recognition from the league office Tuesday. Vernon, the ACC's Receiver of the Week, caught 10 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown in Duke's 46-26 win over FIU. With his final catch, Vernon became Duke's all-time leader in pass receptions, passing former high school and collegiate teammate Donovan Varner's mark of 208. And by catching at least one pass for the 38th consecutive game, he extended what is the FBS's longest active streak. 

In addition to his ascent in the Duke record book, Vernon also climbed closer to the top of the ACC's all-time catches and receiving yards lists. With 209 career catches, he's currently fourth, behind Virginia's Billy McMullen (210), Wake Forest's Desmond Clark (216) and Clemson's Aaron Kelly (232). Vernon also currently ranks 12th on the career receiving yards chart with 2,855 yards. Florida State's Peter Warrick currently has the top mark of 3,517 yards.

"Since Conner Vernon has been at Duke, I've never seen him have a bad practice," head coach David Cutcliffe said of the four-year starter who has only missed one game. "When someone gets hurt, we have hamstring tightness in somebody, Conner always took their reps in practice. He is the greatest lesson for a young player."

"A relentless pursuit of excellence is what Conner Vernon is." 

The other recipients of player of the week honors were Clemson’s Andre Ellington (Offensive Back), Clemson’s Dalton Freeman (Offensive Lineman), Florida State’s Bjoern Werner (Defensive Lineman), Virginia Tech’s Jack Tyler (Linebacker), Wake Forest’s A.J. Marshall (Defensive Back), Virginia Tech’s Cody Journell (Specialist) and Miami’s Duke Johnson (Rookie).

Redshirt freshman Kyler Brown (56) goes up to disrupt a pass from FIU's Jake Medlock in the Blue Devils' 46-26 victory. Credit: CHRIS SEWARD-cseward@newsobserver.com

While I was gone last week, 12 first-year players showed up on Duke's two-deep offensive and defensive depth chart, including five true freshmen. The depth chart is unchanged this week going into Stanford, but let's take a look at how the new guys did in their debuts:

Duke redshirt freshman Kyler Brown (56) picks off a pass in the fourth quarter. Credit: CHRIS SEWARD-cseward@newsobserver.com

Duke head coach David Cutcliffe holds weekly Sunday teleconferences during the season in which he looks back at the previous game and will talk a bit about the game to come. Here are a few highlights from today’s look at the 46-26 win over Florida International and a few thoughts on Stanford. Duke is currently a 14.5 underdog for its road game against the Cardinal.